LS polls: Politicians still have a long way to become online personalities

Another reason why candidates are asked to disclose their social media presence is because the EC wants to be able to monitor their social media campaigns

The Last Lok Sabha election — in 2014 — was perhaps the first poll in India where social media was extensively used as a tool by politicians, led mainly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Cut to 2019. The number of voters using social media has only got bigger, but a look at the social media section of the affidavits filed by candidates this election shows that Indian politicians still have a long way to go to get tech-savvy.

A study of affidavits by the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi, and Hyderabad, as part of their ongoing research on social media usage